A Year of Free Ice Cream: Announcing our “No More Vanilla Gifts Winner!”

This Holiday Season we at eCreamery set out to inspire others to give new and exciting gifts to those special people in your life. ”No More Vanilla Gifts!” No more neck ties, picture frames or flowers. We challenged you to “Say it with Flavor!” and get out of the rut of tired and stale gifts ideas. As the saying goes, “It’s the THOUGHT that counts,” so please, give your gifts some thought. Your gift recipients will be glad you did.

In celebration of creative gifts, we asked for the best stories of the worst in gift gifting. We were not disappointed. Our inbox was filled with stories of Vanilla Gifts that are still haunting their recipients to this day and giving others a good laugh. It was a very difficult choice but a deserving winner rose to the top.

We are pleased to announce ourNo More Vanilla Gifts Winner:

Patricia R. from Westford, MA.

eCreamery’s Grand Prize Winner, Patricia! Patricia will receive a 12 Month Membership to the Flavor of the Month Club.

Here is her winning entry: My Former Boss mailed me a Gift Card for Christmas. Nice, right? It was a $5 Gift card for an electronics store. Still nice, it is the thought that counts. But she had stuffed the envelope with candy canes and pictures of her daughter (whom I had never met) and forgot to put postage or a return address (at least I like to think she ‘forgot’) so in the end the $5 gift card cost me almost $3 in postage. Merry Christmas!

For her grand prize, Patricia will be an eCreamery Flavor of the Month Member. For the next 12 months, we will ship Patricia a half gallon of the favorite flavors of her choice. 12 Months of delicious Ice Cream, Gelato or Sorbetto flavors shipped right to her doorstep! Patricia can choose from the selection of our best selling favorite flavors or choose to create her own custom flavor from the 30 flavors and 40 mix-ins on eCreamery.com. What a delicious deal. Congratulations Patricia!

Thank you to everyone who shared a Vanilla Gift story with us. We certainly appreciated each and every one. Each was strong evidence there is need to help others give new, exciting and thoughtful gifts. We at eCreamery Ice Cream and Gelato are here to do just that!

Remember, next time you need to send a very special, memorable gift, please think to “Say it with Flavor!” and visit us at eCreamery.com. Your recipient will be very glad that you did.

Here are some other gift giving stories gone wrong that made us cringe and laugh and wish we could send ice cream gifts to each of you!

I once got 10 white handkerchiefs. No more runny noses I guess… - Andrew

Here’s vanilla gift giving at its worst! (Sorry mom) it was my dads birthday and amongst his usual cologne, socks, underwear was a pair of jeans. He happened to recognize this particular pair of jeans. Why? My dear mother had given him the exact same pair the year previous! They had managed to make their way to the top of their closet where mom found them thinking she had purchased them recently and got rewrapped. How did he recognize a pair of jeans? Because the card she gave him the year before with the jeans was tucked in the fold. The laugh we got was worth way more than this vanilla gift. My dad would have loved your ice cream. - Jessica

My friend gave his wife a video game system for her birthday as a way for them to spend more time together. She is no longer his wife. (that’s a true story) – Scott

I ordered a beautiful flower arrangement for my mother-in-law for Mother’s Day. Although she sounded a little funny when she called, she was very thankful. The next day when we arrived at her home I understood her strange thank you. Not only was the arrangement very small, some of the flowers were actually dead. What a great way to say Happy Mother’s Day. Is anyone ever really sure what they are getting when they order flowers? - Evelyn

Gave a bride a blender for her wedding gift… so did 8 other people :/ - Shawn

One year my mom received a stuffed teddy bear dipped in vanilla wax. My mom does not collect teddy bears so it did not fit into her decor at all. She put it back in the box and left it to re-gift to someone else. A couple years later when I decided to do my baby’s room in a teddy bear theme….yep it was re-gifted to me! It was the most disgusting smell of vanilla I have ever smelled and it was the biggest dust collector! It was trashed before the baby arrived….so my mom knowing I tossed it was apparently determined to make my babies room smell like vanilla….bought a vanilla scent oil ring to put on the lamp so when it warmed up it let off the odor or aroma of vanilla…..I hate vanilla! - Kay

My parents are bad gift-givers. An illustration: A few years ago for Christmas I received a gift bag from my mom containing about $5 worth in free items from a local bank, including: A note pad A plastic travel mug A staple remover (nothing to put the staples in, only to remove them) A pen A key ring A few other knick knacks I was 20 years old. I received no other gifts that year. Neither me nor my parents have ever banked at this bank. *sigh* Sometimes no gift at all is better than a bad gift. I’ll just take a card next time. – Mike

My husband’s Grandma is known for giving odd/untimely gifts. During my bridal shower I received a shoe box full of naked barbie dolls, followed by a shoebox of hand stitched outfits for these naked barbie dolls. What does a 22-year-old (at the time) do with such a thing? - Kam